Just Couldn't Resist

Forgive me, please. I didn't really want to do this, but it's just too juicy to resist.

Does this mean that, in the eyes of the Austrians, we don't have a president?

What Are We Fighting For?

The calls to end this war in Iraq continue, here in Montana as well as in the rest of the country. And yes, many of us would like to see it put behind us. But is that likely? No. I don't think so.

The idea that this is a war for oil, or more accurately for the control of oil, has been out there for quite some time now. And it's basically true. But that's only part of the problem. The way our industrialized society is structured requires vast amounts of oil. We are not prepared for what could happen should our nearly endless supply be cut off. Or even diminished. Never mind global warming, or war, or the environmental destruction that is killing and sickening millions around the world. We are dependent on oil, on fossil fuels. They are such a part of our society, of our behavior and habits that we can't conceive of doing without. We don't even know what havoc we may yet wreak, but we are bound and determined to find a way to carry on regardless of the ultimate cost.

These things -- the war, the ever-changing and increasingly violent weather patterns, the fact that more people die from environmental degradation than from war -- these things should serve as wake up calls. They should be alerting us that the way we live here in an industrialized, technology driven, market dominated world is not sustainable.

As long as we continue to demand more and more stuff, bigger homes, longer commutes, more and more toys and entertainment, faster and more convenient food and all of the other trappings that our society relentlessly parades before our eyes, as long as we continue to kneel before the altar of economic growth, growth based on dependence to cheap oil, with little or no regard for the consequences, we will continue to find ourselves embroiled in ever-increasing and never-ending wars for dwindling resources.

We need to make some serious changes. Serious and far-reaching changes. I'll be the first to admit that I surely don't know what that may entail. It will be difficult to say the least, and it certainly won't be painless, but what are the alternatives?

A Short Take On Hunting

Hunting can be a touchy subject among environmental types like me. Especially in a place like Montana. I tend to come across as a pretty hard-core supporter of wilderness and wildlife protection, as well as other environmental protections. And it's true. I am. I also consider myself a hunter, though I haven't been able to do it for a few years now, and I'm pro-hunting all the way. I occasionally get taken to task by one side or the other. Some assume that because I'm an enviro I am anti-hunting, others are shocked and horrified to learn that as an enviro I support and encourage hunting. Sometimes you just can't win.

I've never bought into the argument that it's wrong for us humans to kill other living things for one simple reason -- I think it goes against nature. We are one of nature's predators. Predators kill. It might not be pretty and it might offend the squeamish, but it's a fact of nature. Predators kill. We are a part of the circle of life and a part of the food chain, and as far as I'm concerned embracing our role in the food chain and participating in it is far more responsible than denying it. Period.

There will always be those who choose not to hunt, and given the number of humans crawling around on this planet that's probably a good thing, and that's fine. If you don't want to hunt don't hunt. Simple. But don't impose your sensibilities on those who choose to fulfill the role of hunters in our society. Rather than deny them, accept them. Better yet, embrace them. They are filling an important niche. Celebrate the hunter and the hunt. Tribal cultures have known and practiced that for millennia.

So here's my salute to you hunters out there. May the season treat you well, and may all your hunts be successful. Do your duty well.

Wild Autumn

Yes indeed, it's fall once more here in Montana. Evenings are shorter, mornings are crisper, and the light at both times has a quality to it like no other time of year. I don't know if it's a sign of age or what, but I find my self reminiscing more and more of autumns I've spent here, and of certain moments that I'll always carry with me.

There was a September week, must be twenty years ago now, that I spent in Yellowstone. I camped for a couple of nights at Norris Junction. It was cold, there were relatively few people in the park, and the rutting elk were at their peak. One great bull was tearing up the meadow across the road from me, bugling non-stop, and challenging any within hearing distance to take him on. There were a few half-hearted bugles from the surrounding trees, but none would come out. The other bulls knew dominance and they respected it. The bugling went on most of the night, the next day, and the following night, and he had a pretty impressive harem together by the time I left. I didn't get much sleep there, but then who wants to sleep at a time like that? I moved on after a couple of nights and wished him well.

There was the time I was hiking back to the cabin I was living in up the East Fork of the Bitterroot. I had been hearing a strange crack, like someone splitting wood up ahead of me and was puzzling it out when I came around a bend in the trail and there were several bighorn sheep. Two big rams were facing off, and some ewes were watching. The ewes spotted me immediately and started milling around, but the rams were oblivious to anything but each other. Again and again they'd rear up on their hind legs and then slam into each other like two cars meeting head-on. And there I sat, about fifty yards away watching. Those are the kinds of moments I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. These are only two -- I have plenty more.

I've lived a fortunate life. Throughout my years, both my childhood and adult years, I've lived surrounded by that blessed wild country. Not merely surrounded by it, but as a part of it. I've never been close to what could be called materially wealthy, but I've been rich beyond words in wilderness experiences, as well as other things that mere money simply can't buy. That's the greatest gift I could ever have been given. I feel a strong obligation to pass the same opportunities on to my kids. And yours.

I may be a town dweller these days, but the wilderness still feeds my spirit. Wildness runs through my veins, and will continue to do so as long as my old heart keeps ticking. And then some, I hope. I hope that same spirit lives on through my offspring, and theirs, if and when they have kids of their own.

So enjoy the season folks, and appreciate all that this great state has to offer. And above all keep it wild.

A Wilderness Quote For The Week

One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: You will outlive the bastards.

- Edward Abbey

Backing Off A Little Bit

Alright then. If you've clicked over here you'll notice that this is the only post up on the front page of this blog. I've been a part of the 'sphere here in Montana for a little over a year now, I've put up somewhere between 150 and 200 posts, and I'll be the first one to admit that I'm getting a bit stale. The posts, especially for the past few months, have been getting thinner and thinner and I decided that now would be a good time to go into semi-hibernation for a while and re-think the direction buzztail is going to go.

I've done a little housecleaning here, deleted a few previous posts, and buried the rest. This one can sit here up front for the time being while I take a breather. I've thought of changing the look and even moving to another host, but no. I selected the look of this template when I started because it seemed to suit me, and I still feel the same. I like the look. That's not the problem. Content is the problem. That's what I need to work on.

But where to go with it? Well, back to my own basic beliefs and interests for starters. I'll do far less posting on electoral and party issues. Enough electioneering. There are many fine blogs who cover that territory very well. I'll no doubt do some when the spirit moves me, but I don't add much to those discussions. I intend to keep it to a minimum. The same goes for the realms of analysis and debate. That's not my turf. Again, there are many of you out there, both bloggers and commenters, who cover that ground well. More than well. You do a damn fine job. I'll leave that in your capable hands. I'm not saying that this blog is going non-political, just that I'll focus more on what concerns me the most.

My concerns run towards wilderness issues and our environment, and that's what I'll devote most of my energy to. Simply put, I'm an uneducated lout and a misfit who grew up in the wilds of the Minnesota border country in the 50's and 60's, have spent the last quarter century or so roaming the wilds of Montana, and will do most of my writing from that perspective. I'm also digging a little bit more into my own personal roots, both because as I get older that stuff becomes more important, and also for a little insight into where some of my attitudes may come from. I've never talked about this, and not that anyone really cares, but my blogging name is a combination of my initials and my heritage. All my ancestors, both sides of my family from my Grandparents on back, came from near the arctic circle in Finland, with some possibly going back to the Sami tribes of the far north. It interests me, but no need to bore you further with that.

No need to keep rambling here either. I'm going to take some time to re-read some of my old heroes, as much as I dislike that word. Going back a few years, there's Lao Tzu. And Chuang Tzu. Maybe I'll visit with Thoreau and Emerson and Walt Whitman. More recently there is William O. Douglas and Sigurd Olson and Ed Abbey and Doug Peacock just to name a few. Then I'll get back to posting here at buzztail. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by, keep in touch, and I'll see you back here someday soon.